Gammon Infrastructure mulls stake sale in port, road projects

Gammon Infrastructure is planning to sell stake in two infrastructure projects for raising equity funding to meet expansion plans. The company hopes to raise around Rs 300 crore through this route, in addition to Rs 200 crore it plans to raise through a rights issue.

Parag Parikh, chief financial officer, told Business Standard the company would either divest a part of their special purpose vehicles or look at securitising receivables from existing projects.

The company’s first choice is via divestment. It has already received offers for two of its commissioned projects. One is for a berth it operates at Visakhapatnam port on a build, operate and transfer basis. The concession period for this is 30 years.

Yet another project receiving investor interest is a road project it has in the Mumbai-Nashik sector. “We are still going through the details of the interested parties,” said Parikh. Fund raising from both these sources can happen in the next six months.

The company’s right issue, which will undergo the process of appointing merchant bankers and approvals from the market regulator, could also happen parallelly in the next four to five months. Details, like the price of the rights issue, are yet to be decided..

Gammon Infra is currently developing five road projects, two port projects and five power projects. This is in addition to four projects already operational. It has tied-up Rs 6,000 crore in debt for these projects.

The funds to be raised this year would provide for equity for some of the ongoing projects, as well as new projects it might bid and win this year. “Some portion of the equity for the ongoing projects has been funded. Funds from the rights issue will partially fund the rest of the requirement,” said Parikh.

The company’s stock ended 3.4 per cent down at Rs 17.3 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.